There's no place like home

Well, that's that for vacation. Huge thanks to Dylan, Suzy, and Mike for their amazing work while I was gone. And now that I'm back, you can keep following them: Mike runs the amazing blog Rortybomb, Suzy is at Mother Jones (and here's her author page), and Dylan is the Minipundit (not to mention an invaluable contributor to my work on this blog).

Also, a huge welcome to my friend Dave Weigel. Dave comes from the Washington Independent, where his reporting on the grassroots conservative movement -- from the Ron Paul "Revolution" to the Tea Parties -- has created a new beat that half the reporters in town are struggling to mimic. But accept no substitutes: the Post got Dave, and his blog is ground zero for understanding one of the forces that will shape our politics going forward. Follow him here.

As for me, it's back to work. Now that health-care reform is done -- at least for the moment -- this blog will widen its focus a bit. Financial regulation and the economy will play a larger role, and so too will other issues, from climate change to immigration, that muscle onto the national agenda. The banner of this blog promises "economic and domestic policy, and lots of it," and I intend to deliver. I'm also working on some other additions to the site that, if they come to fruition, should be pretty cool. So stay tuned. And as always, thanks for reading.

I am also glad that WaPo is on hunt to source bloggers with original take like how they got David Weigel. Yup, Tea Party is going to be all the news in rest of the year. So such a dedicated coverage would help.

I hope in your catch up reading you read Noam Scheiber's important article, "Street Fight
Obama can get everything he wants on financial reform--if only he gets tough.", at:

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/street-fight?page=0,0

Key quotes:

Shelby’s recent outreach seems to reflect the new reality in the battle to tame the banks: Both sides recognize that the reformers have the momentum, given the way last month’s health care victory has unified Senate Democrats, and given the political peril for Republicans in appearing to do Wall Street’s bidding. But both sides also recognize that, p.r.-wise, the consumer agency tends to overwhelm other elements of the reform effort...

In the end, though, the most reliable guide to what’s likely to happen is discerning who has leverage. And, even once you strip away all the rhetoric and the personal narratives, it’s clearly the Democrats who have it. The outcome the industry fears most is that Democrats pass a tough bill on an overwhelmingly partisan vote, isolating Republicans as reflexive defenders of Wall Street. “Everyone in the industry, their line is very simple,” says another administration official. “They want a bipartisan bill.”
According to this same official, the administration doesn’t expect to have trouble finding one or two Republican senators to break a filibuster, even for a hawkish bill. “Frankly there’s a category of [Republican] who is fed up with the party on the issue. They’ve told me so privately,” the official says. “They don’t want to be caught on wrong side of it.” Which means Democrats have the ability to force Wall Street to move their way—not just on the consumer agency, but across the board. The only question is whether they use it.

End Quote

Note that last part, "According to this same official, the administration doesn’t expect to have trouble finding one or two Republican senators to break a filibuster, even for a hawkish bill." If this is true it's crucial that Obama and the Democrats don't wimp out and fight for a truly strong bill. This is extremely important stuff.